Unbreakable
by LunaLovesbooks7
Summary: (H/Hr) On a cold night alone in the tent, Hermione struggles to sleep and, when she hears Harry having another nightmare, she wakes him and fights away his bad dreams. But things have been changing between them and suddenly their feelings for each other become imposible to ignore.
1. Chapter 1

"Hello everyone! My name is Luna and I'm here with a new Harmony story. This idea has been running around my head for days and finally I've been able to put it into paper. It was originally thought as a one shot but if any of you want to read more, let me know and also let me know what you'd like to see in this story. I have some ideas but nothing solid yet...

The story focuses on Harry and Hemrione as a couple (because I love them together) and mostly on what happens after the war. Still, the story begins on a night during the time Harry and Hermione spent alone while they looked for the the horcruxes after Ron left them. In my story, Ron doesn't find them with the deluminator so the first chapter takes place around the end of January and Ron's still gone. There will be some time jumping taking place, I've decided to try to make it more clear by writing the dates so that you more or less know what's going on. Let me know if you have any questions.  
I'm looking forward to see what you think about it :)  
 _Disclaimer: Of course, I don't own Harry Potter._

* * *

 ** _Unbreakable_**

 _I. January, 1998_

It had been so cold that night, and she had been crying silently while Harry slept. She'd just had another nightmare, and one that had been too vivid to shake off and go back to sleep. If she closed her eyes in the darkness, she could still see him. Harry laying on the ground, his green eyes open without looking, he was empty, dead. And she was alone, next in line to be murdered in cold blood.

She was shaking under the blankets, not even her warming charms were enough to fight the cold and the fear that was taking over her. And then she heard him. He'd been struggling in his sleep again, low whimpering sounds echoing inside the tent and Hermione knew he was having another nightmare. Just like she had. His breathing became more and more ragged and eventually, he whined as if he were in pain.

"Harry" she whispered in the dark. She tried again, but her soft, shaking voice wasn't enough to pull him out of the dark universe that had been created inside his mind.

"No!" he mumbled trying to kick the blankets off as he grumbled a string of incoherent words.

Still shaking from the cold, Hermione climbed out of her bed and tried to wrap a blanket around her before approaching Harry's bunk bed.

"Harry" she whispered kneeling next to him "Harry, wake up. It's just a nightmare…" 

"No! Please!" he cried in his sleep, still too caught up in the darkness surrounding him to wake up.

Her voice made its way into Harry's mind and suddenly it wasn't him who was under the Cruciatus Curse, it was her and she was calling his name, she was in pain, she was in danger, he couldn't save her, he couldn't save himself. All he could see was darkness surrounding them, Hermione's screams deafening him. He couldn't stand the sight of her in pain under his enemy's curse. He screamed something impossible to decipher and Hermione tried to shake him awake.

"Harry!" she spoke louder this time, he was crying in his sleep, his nightmare seemed to be getting worse. "Harry, wake up" she touched his face gently and it seemed to work like a charm.

He suddenly opened his eyes looking scared and confused. For a second, the only sound in the tent was Harry's heavy breathing. The first thing he did was reach for his wand but Hermione's hand stopped him.

"Hermione" he mumbled looking around for a threat "Are you ok?"

"Everything's alright" she whispered glad to have been able to pull him out of that nightmare. "You were having a bad dream"

"Bad dream…" he repeated with a sigh and closed his eyes for a second. She was right there, holding his hand, alive, safe. "I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

"No, don't worry. I've been drifting in and out of sleep all night. If it's not the cold, it's a nightmare… Apparently I won't be getting any sleep tonight" she told him quietly, she was still shaking and her teeth started to chatter with cold. "Maybe I'd better get dressed and go outside to keep watch."

"No, wait" without having a really good reason, Harry reached out for her hand, her fingers automatically intertwining with his "Hermione, you're freezing!"

"I… um… Yeah. I might be a little bit cold."

He didn't say anything, he just pulled her hand towards him and she climbed into his bed without a word. It wasn't the first time. The first time they had shared a bed had been after escaping Godric's Hollow, the two of them had been too scared of losing each other to sleep on their own beds. Sometimes it was because of the cold, sometimes it was because of a nightmare, sometimes it was a little bit of both. And some other times, it was because of something neither of them could put their finger on. Being close to each other gave them a kind of warm, peaceful feeling that they'd been craving for more and more as time went by. They told themselves that it was to fight the loneliness and the cold, that if something bad happened it would be easier to apparate away if they were together, that since they had only one wand available the best thing to was to remain close. A hundred excuses rose to the surface of their thoughts every time they thought about it. And they didn't even think about it much. It was just something that had developed naturally. War was making a number on them, deep down, they were terrified of losing each other and all they could do to cope with it was being as close as they could as much time as possible. Apparently nothing had changed, but for no apparent reason their nightmares were frequently more about losing each other than about being in danger themselves and after a bad dream the only thing that could calm them down was the other's touch.

Hermione snuggled against him and their arms soon found their usual position around each other. She let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding and buried his hand on her brown curls. They were safe, no nightmare could reach them now.

"Better?" Harry asked once she was under the blankets. She nodded, but her teeth were still chattering with cold and she was still shaking so Harry held her closer against him enjoying the warm feeling of her head resting on his chest. After those last moments of his nightmare, he felt blessed to be holding her alive in his arms.

"Thank you" she whispered once she stopped shaking and her temperature seemed to start going back to normal.

"Blimey, Hermione! You're feet are freezing" Harry cursed under his breath when her almost frozen bare feet made contact with his legs.

"Sorry" She said trying to put some space between them but Harry didn't let her.

"It's ok, they'll warm up in a few minutes" he said as he allowed her to warm her freezing cold feet against his skin.

"What were you dreaming about?" she asked quietly.

"The Cruciatus Curse..." he answered in a very quiet whisper "The worst kind of pain imaginable." he sighed "Then you were there, under the curse and all I could do was watch" Harry shook his head trying to vanish the picture from his mind and held her tighter for a moment.

"We're ok" Hermione whispered taking a deep breath, revelling on the feeling of being in his arms, safe, away from harm.

"I know. It's just that sometimes I..." but he didn't finish and Hermione's curiosity got the best of her.

"Sometimes you what?" she asked looking up to meet his eyes.

"Don't worry about it."

"Harry..." she said gently "Tell me."

Harry gave a little sigh and nodded, she rested her head against his chest again and waited for him to talk.

"Sometimes I think you should have gone with him" Harry said almost noiselessly, there was no need to clarify who that him was. "When I think about what could happen to you, the danger I'm putting you in..."

"Shh..." she interrupted him before his thoughts went too far on that direction and her hand found his, their fingers automatically intertwining "I chose to stay, Harry. I chose to come with you on the first place" she closed her eyes for a second, breathing in his sweet smell "There's no place I'd rather be right now" she finished almost inaudibly, surprising herself with the truth of her words.

"This might be the most selfish I've ever been, but I'm glad you're with me, Hermione."

She smiled and shook her head softly.

"You don't have a selfish bone in your body, Harry Potter."

"You said you'd been having nightmares too?" he asked once a few minutes had passed.

"Yeah..."

"What was it?"

"It doesn't matter" she said, fighting the small lump that formed in her throat at the thought of her nightmare, Harry's face empty of life, dead. Her worst fear coming to life in her mind "I just don't want to lose you" she breathed out in a broken whisper.

"Hey... We're here, we're alright" he rubbed her arm gently. "You're ok?"

"Yes" she said, concentrating on the steady rhythm of Harry's heartbeat "I've just been having a rough night."

Harry nodded in understanding and they fell silent. He'd been getting used to that feeling, to her light weight on his chest, to holding her and stroking her hair when she was scared at night. He thought about her having nightmares about losing him, if he stopped to think about it for a second, it was his worst fear too. After losing so many people in his life, he should be the one to say that every lose is survivable, but her? He couldn't even bare to think about it.

Everything was so quiet and serene that Harry almost thought she'd fallen asleep but just as if she'd heard his unspoken question, she spoke.

"This is nice" she said and Harry felt the ghost of a smile playing on his lips. He had almost forgotten what it was like to feel nice after so long on the run but right there at that moment, he realised that he totally agreed with her.

"It is" he said and he gave her a small kiss on the top of her head.

He held her a little bit closer and buried his face in her hair. After spending more time alone with him and sharing his bed some nights, Hermione had learned how much Harry craved physical contact. Apparently, after an entire childhood without the comfort of a loved one's touch, Harry seemed to find utter happiness in a little bit of contact. She rested her palm against his chest gently, feeling his heartbeat on her hand, and used her fingertips to lightly caress his skin through the thin layer of fabric of his t-shirt. Harry sighed deeply and relaxed under her innocent touch, all nightmares forgotten for a blissful moment.

Hermione smiled. She felt glad to be there, in his arms, feeling the warmth of his skin against her. She could imagine herself with him like that the night after that, and a thousand nights after that. There was a rightness to being with Harry that she had only felt a few times before in her life.

And then realization washed over her.

It wasn't as one would imagine it to be. It was not a sudden awakening, it didn't feel like a breaking point, it didn't even surprise her. One moment she was there, enjoying the comfort of being held in his arms on a cold winter night when all they had was each other, the next moment she knew it. She loved him. It was as easy and fascinating as breathing in his fresh smell. It was cold, they didn't have enough to eat and everything was pretty much terrible, but there was no place she'd rather be other than next to Harry. On some level, she had always known it, she'd loved Harry even before she knew what love meant but all of a sudden that silent notion had become real in her head, ringing like a bell in the silence.

She felt at peace being with him like that, she never wanted it to end. Love. It was amazing that she remained so calm even after such realization had hit her.

"Harry?" she asked looking up and his eyes met hers.

She looked into his green eyes and she felt herself falling into depths of his gaze. She was suddenly reminded of all the times she'd been about to lose him, the fear, the pain. And she knew, even though she wanted to ignore it, she knew that she'd come close to lose him again soon. They were in the middle of a war, she didn't know how much time they had and suddenly she was filled with an impending feeling of urgency. She couldn't stand the thought of losing another minute.

"Hey…" he said with a worried look when he saw the storm of fear and emotion in her eyes "Are you ok?"

"What are we doing? What is this?" she asked in a thin voice.

"I'm sorry, I'm not following you."

Hermione took a deep breath trying to organize her ideas. She gave herself almost five minutes to try to come up with a coherent string of words but it just didn't come. It was so simple, yet so complicated. She loved him. How was it even possible that she hadn't noticed it before?

"Can I… Can I try something?" she asked looking deeply into his green eyes.

"Hermione, you're not making sense" Harry muttered looking at her with a worried frown.

"Shh. Please, close your eyes" she hushed him.

Looking back to it, she almost wished that it had been more surprising, more memorable. But it didn't, it had been as simple and natural as breathing out after taking a breath in.

He trusted her, so he did as she said and because she loved him, she closed her eyes and kissed him. Just like that. She closed the small distance between them and rested her lips against his for a moment. There weren't fireworks of stars shining behind her eyes but it still felt like magic. They remained frozen there for a endless moment and then Hermione looked up at him again.

"I love you" she said, her voice calm and peaceful and something inside of Harry's heart fell into place for the first time in a lifetime. He closed his eyes for a second, feeling the magic of those words running through his veins.

It was amazing that he wasn't even surprised by it. So natural, so easy… He pulled her closer to him and their lips met again. This time, they danced around each other, lips moving slowly, starting to explore. Hermione's hand went from Harry's chest to his black hair and his hands found their place around her waist, keeping her as close to him as possible. She felt so warm in his arms, so full of life. Kissing her was like holding on to life itself. He felt alive and weighless. He felt love washing over him, the kind of love built on friendship and trust. Every thought that had been scattered around his brain suddenly fell into place. That was why he couldn't stand the thought of losing her, why she was the only one who could actually comfort him after a nightmare. It was the most intense, pure, magical feeling he'd ever experienced.

"Say that again" he pleaded when they stopped kissing.

"I love you" she whispered slowly, gently caressing his cheek. Harry leant into her touch and Hermione smiled, unable to stop herself from giving him another warm lingering kiss. Kissing Harry felt new and thrilling but at the same time there was a warm familiar feeling around it, as if they had been doing it for their whole life. Nothing had ever felt so fitting in her life.

"No one's ever said that to me" he whispered so softly that for a moment Hermione thought that she had imagined it.

"Not even…?"

But she couldn't finish her question. Harry's lips were on hers again and that was worthy of being remembered as their first kiss. Harry shifted until he was half on top of her and he pressed his lips to hers. His kiss instantly deepened and became hungrier as Hermione's hands started to run over his back. She returned the kiss with a passion she didn't know herself capable of and soon her hands had managed to get Harry's t-shirt out of the way without even knowing how she'd done it. She didn't ponder upon that fact for too long, since Harry's bare skin on her hands made the tips of her fingers tingle as if she had just been hit with a perfectly cast Cheering Charm.

Suddenly, years of silently wanting him exploded inside of her and all she could think about was how intoxicating Harry was, how she needed him closer, how she wanted him more than she'd ever desired anything.

"Wait…" Harry breathed out, his forehead resting against hers, their breaths mixing in the small space between them "Wait. This… this is crazy."

"It is" Hermione said reaching up give him another tender, hungry kiss.

"This is wrong" he mumbled "What about…?"

"I don't care" Hermione interrupted him locking her arms around his neck "Don't you feel this?"

She kissed him again and then pressed a string of light kisses from his lips to his heart and back, Harry shivered at the contact. He felt real in her arms, she made him feel more alive than he had ever been.

"Does this feel wrong?" she asked him barely an inch away from his lips.

He didn't need to answer. His lips crashed into hers and she arched her back to feel him even closer. She needed every inch of his skin pressed against her, she needed him.

And for that blissful moment they weren't the Boy Who Lived and The Brightest Witch of her Age, they weren't two people playing a key role in defeating the most powerful dark wizard in the history of their country, they weren't on the run, they weren't alone. They were just a boy and a girl, filled with youth and love and curiosity. They were suddenly driven by the most all-consuming, intense kind of passion. And the world around them seemed to vanish. Nothing mattered other than the sweet and warm feeling of pure pleasure pulsing through their veins. Eventually, Hermione reached for her wand and with a flick, she vanished the rest of their clothes enjoying the paradise of being in contact with his skin.

"I love you too" Harry whispered in her ear while she trailed kisses down his neck.

Her heart fluttered at his words and when she looked up again she was beaming. They were both covered by a thin layer of sweat, breathing heavily and feeling half dazed from the pleasure of exploring each other's body. They were everywhere, kissing, touching, caressing, squeezing, stroking. All at once and still so delightfully slowly.

There was no need for questions to be asked. Harry's gleaming green eyes met Hermione's gaze and he saw forever reflected in her eyes. He wanted to live, he wanted to keep this feeling forever. She gave him her silent approval and he kissed her as deeply and ardently as he could. She kissed him back with all she had and, with a heavenly movement, he thrust inside her. She arched her back and met him halfway, digging her nails into his back and gasping at the overwhelming feeling of him.

"You're ok?" he fought for breath as he pressed small butterfly kisses on her left shoulder.

She nodded before she took his face between her hands to kiss him again. She'd never get tired of the feeling of him, around her, inside her, everywhere. They easily managed to leave behind the clumsiness of the first few minutes and found a perfect rhythm. Their hearts were racing, their breathing getting heavier and heavier. Hermione felt it first, a pang of sheer, endless pleasure shooting through her body, shattering her thoughts and shaking her whole being all at the same time. She spasmed and the relaxed in Harry's arms who fell on top of her only two minutes after that, totally consumed and overwhelmed. They were both dizzy and shaking and they clung to each other almost desperately, frightened to close their eyes and lose the magic of the moment.

"Everything's going to change" Hermione whispered after a long moment of blissful silence, her hand was still buried in Harry's wet hair gently stroking his scalp.

Harry, who had been pressing light kisses to her chest, looked up to meet her eyes and smiled.

"Do you really love me?" he asked sounding totally serious for a moment.

"Yes" she answered without missing a beat.

Harry reached up to kiss her again, a long loving kiss that neither wanted to end. When they had to end the kiss because the need for air was too strong, Harry dropped a string of chaste kisses from her lips to her left ear and then he took a deep breath.

"I never want this to end… I love you" he whispered in her ear.

"Harry…"

"Shh…" he closed his eyes for a second, allowing his Gryffindor courage to take over "Marry me" never had a combination of words felt so perfect on Harry Potter's lips, he could feel the thud of his racing heartbeat all over his body, he'd never feel something as intense in his entire existence.

"What?" Hermione's voice broke.

"If this is what love feels like…" Harry sighed looking at her directly in the eye "I want this, I want this forever. Promise me we'll survive the war… promise me after all this is all over you and I…"

"Yes" she interrupted him knowing that that small, three lettered word would change the course of her life forever.

"Really?" he asked and she nodded, tears shining in her eyes at the thought of having hope, having something to look forward to after the war was over. "Will you?" he asked again, because he couldn't believe something good was finally on the cards for him.

"Yes" she beamed and their lips collided in another brief kiss "Yes I will" she kissed him again "As soon as this is over" and again "I…" and again "... love you."

For the first time in what felt like forever, they were filled with hope and joy and the kind of strength only love can provide. That night they made love again before they fell asleep tangled in each other's arms with smiles shining on their faces and the promise of a bright future after the war burning in their hearts. Dark times were ahead of them and they didn't even know if they could keep their promise. They knew deep down that everything could be taken from them by the war, but that night, that wild, sheer feeling of hope and love that burned inside them, that could never be taken away. That was the kind of power that would make them unbreakable.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey there everyone! I'm glad you liked the story! I came up with an idea to continue this journey. Let me know what you think about it. :) I still don't really know where the story will go, I'm just kind of writing the kind of H/Hr story I'd like to read... Let me know if you like it and what you'd like to read in it. Again, thank you for your feedback! I'll be back with more as soon as I can :)

* * *

 ** _Unbreakable_ **

_II. August, 2011_

"Did he really ask you to _marry_ him after, what? A two minutes relationship?" asked a fourteen year old Teddy Lupin, his hair shining a deeper shade of blue out of surprise.

"And you said _yes_?!" added the brown haired thirteen year old girl next to him in shock. Her eyes met Teddy's ones, matching expressions of surprise and disbelief on their faces.

"Nuts!" he said shaking his head.

"Utterly insane!" Rosalie added.

Hermione rolled her eyes and all of them laughed. She'd never told anyone that particular fact about her life, that first night she'd spent with Harry during their search for the horcruxes, but she loved the kids and they'd wanted to know more about the story so she had decided to start at the beginning.

"I think it's so romantic…" the third teen commented. Victoire Weasley was six months younger than Rosalie and almost exactly a year younger than Teddy.

The three of them had grown up together forming one of the most solid friendship bonds Hermione had ever witnessed and their friendship had done nothing but grow stronger over the past few years they'd spent at Hogwarts together.

"Romantic?" Rosalie repeated "Sorry, but I think you were mad."

"They were in love…" Victoire defended them again.

"You have to understand the circumstances" Hermione began to explain "By that time we had spent months alone, we felt lonely and hopeless, we didn't have anything to eat, it was colder than you could even imagine…" she sighed "We were young and scared…"

"So they shagged each other senseless to get warm because casting a hot-air charm was just too difficult" Teddy whispered in Rosalie's ear and even though she tried not to, she joined his laughter.

"You're an idiot, Lupin!" Hermione couldn't help but laughing at them.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that" Hermione said shaking her head in false disapproval. She was actually happy that it all sounded funny to them, that meant they didn't really understand. And the reason why they didn't understand was that they had grown up in a world without war and pain. They were the living proof of the fact that all the sacrifices made back then had been worth it. "If you're not going to take it seriously story time is over."

"No!" Victoire complained "I want to hear the rest!"

"Teddy was just being his usual git self, sorry" Rose stopped laughing and looked at her apologizingly. "We do want to hear the rest."

"Yeah. Sorry, Mione" he nodded. "We still want you to explain how is it that you got engaged on the night of your first kiss." Teddy said and this time he wasn't joking. Hermione had never given it much thought. After all, things had been so crazy after that night that they hadn't even had time to think.

"It's not like we started to plan our wedding right away. I think it was just… I don't know" she sighed "I could really use Harry's help to explain it, but I think that it was simply a way of promising each other that there would be a future. Everything around us felt so… nightmarish, that I think in that moment it felt like making what we were feeling real."

"When exactly did this happen?" Rosalie asked, trying to put the pieces of the story together.

"Around the end of January, we weren't exactly keeping track of the dates. But I'm sure it was a few months after Ron left us and he left around the end of October" she frowned trying to remember, the months they had spent trying to complete Dumbledore's mission felt like blur after so long.

"Did you really spend _months_ on the run during the war?" Victoire asked.

"Yes, we left right after your parent's wedding and we spent ten months running until the Battle of Hogwarts took place…" Hermione said. It was difficult to put her memories into words, she wasn't used to talking much about the war. It had been a dark period of her life, a time full of darkness and fear.

"Could you tell us?" Rosalie asked softly, suddenly her voice was much more serious.

"Tell you what?"

"About the war" this time it was Teddy who spoke, surprising Hermione with his request.

They all had a rough version of what had happened in the war, stories they've heard while growing up, how Teddy's parents had loved him and how they had died a brave tragic death only a month after he'd been born, how Harry had had to face Voldemort alone at the end, how good had won and how long it had taken for the Wizarding World to recover from the war. They knew some things they'd asked while they were children but they had never had a real conversation about it.

Hermione took a second to really look at them before she started to talk. She couldn't believe how fast they had grown up. In only a few weeks, Teddy would start his fourth year and the girls would follow him, only a year behind. She smiled at her own memory of that age. Her third year at Hogwarts had been the last one before Voldemort came back and things started to become more and more dark. Teddy, Rosalie and Victoire looked so grown up that it was difficult to grasp how it was possible that so many years had gone by so fast. They looked young and full of life, ready to have a thousand adventures. She almost didn't want to tell them in fear of ruining the bright innocence in their eyes but she knew that they had a right to know, the story of the war was too closely intertwined with their own stories.

"What do you want to know?"

"What was it like?" Rosalie asked after thinking about it for a little while.

"Dangerous" was the first word that popped into Hermione's mind "It wasn't the same for me than for the rest of the people that went through it. All of us have our own experiences, but I think mine was pretty… unique" she sighed "Being so close to Harry, I experienced most of what he went through. At the beginning we didn't really know what was going on. What the history books say was the beginning of the war didn't feel like it for us back then. We were scared and confused, but we really didn't know what was going on around us. I wasn't much older than you back then…" she remembered.

"You're talking about Cedric Diggory's death, aren't you?" Victoire asked. Out of all of them, she was the only one that had read widely about the war. For Teddy it was too painful to think so much about the reason why his parents had been taken from him and Rosalie had never liked to talk about it much. It was a painful topic around so they had learnt to avoid it as much as they could.

"Yes. Looking back at it, that marked the start. That's when Voldemort really came back. Harry was horribly shaken but at that time he didn't like to talk about those things, not even with me so I didn't really understand what was going on until my first real battle, when Harry's godfather was killed."

"The Battle of the Department of Mysteries" Victoire whispered under her breath. "That happened exactly a year after the end of the tournament. Bellatrix Lestrange killed Harry's godfather. He was thought to be a Death Eater but he wasn't, he was on our side. And you were injured too, weren't you?"

"Honestly, Vic, I don't know how you didn't end up in Ravenclaw" Rosalie teased her.

"Sorry…" she blushed and Hermione let out a small laugh.

"Yes, Vic, you're right" she smiled "I was struck with a nasty dark curse and I had to take ten potions a day for around a month to get better. Some of our friends were injured too but the worst of it was losing Sirius. After that things started to get pretty bad. A year after that battle Professor Dumbledore was killed. I think that's when it really started for me."

Hermione paused and smiled lightly at Victoire, she could almost see a question dying to be asked on the corner of her lips.

"Go ahead, you can ask me."

"He was killed by Severus Snape, wasn't he?" the blonde witch asked and Hermione nodded. "Is it true that he was… _good_?"

"That's quite a complicated question…" Hermione grimaced "Him killing Dumbledore wasn't actually what we'd thought when it happened. It was part of a plan, Dumbledore had wanted it that way. Snape didn't kill him under Voldemort's orders as we'd thought and it's true that he helped us and that he was Dumbledore's spy for most of the war… but I never knew if he was truly on our side" she paused taking a moment to think about it "I think he was on his own side. He was fighting his own war. Not many people know this, but he was in love with Harry's mother."

"What?!"

"But he was the one who told Voldemort about the prophecy! He's the reason why Harry's parents died back in 1981."

"Where the bloody heck did you get all of that information from, Vic?" Teddy asked, shocked at the amount of knowledge about the war she seemed to have.

"There was a prophecy about him?" Rosalie asked taken aback "So he really was 'the chosen one'?"

"That's the thing about prophecies, you never know if they are real or if they become real only because someone believes in them…" Hermione explained "But yes, there was a prophecy. Snape overheard it and, as Vic said, he told Voldemort about it. That's the reason why he went after Harry when he was a baby."

"But if Snape loved Harry's mother… Oh, Merlin, poor man."

"He sent a dark wizard after an innocent baby, Victoire. The bastard doesn't deserve your pity." Rosalie said, a dark shadow crossing her eyes.

"And he's not worth your anger" Hermione added, taking Rosalie's hand in hers. Sometimes she was too much of a Gryffindor for Hermione's liking. "You're ok?" she asked gently and the young witch nodded, blinking away the loathing that had started to cloud her shining eyes.

"What happened to you after Dumbledore was killed, Mione?" Teddy asked, trying to get their conversation back on track.

"I went back home for the last time that summer, I was terrified all the time. Everyday I'd read on the Prophet that another muggle family had been killed" she closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to blink away the tears that were suddenly glistening in her eyes.

This time it was Rosalie who took her hand over the table and squeezed it.

"I'm sorry" the witch said looking straight into her eyes. Rose knew that she'd had to send her parents away with their memories wiped and how much that still hurt her "You really don't have to go on if you don't want to."

Was she really just thirteen years old?

"I'm ok" she said and she cleared her throat and smiled "Vic will like the next bit."

"My parent's wedding" she beamed.

"Come on, Vic…" Teddy complained "We've heard that story a thousand times."

"It was a marvelous wedding. Fleur looked astonishingly beautiful."

"But you had to escape, because the Ministry had fallen to Voldemort" this time it was Teddy who finished that part for her "And that's when it started, ten months on your own…"

"Pretty much" Hermione shrugged giving Vic an apologizing look for not stopping to tell her about her parent's wedding _again_.

"What was it like?" Rosalie asked again and Hermione understood that that had been what she'd wanted to know the first time she asked.

"It was… cold and lonely and silent most of the time. We were so frustrated and bored sometimes. We practically lost contact with the rest of the world. After Ron left it was mostly just me and Harry. We would have gone mad if it had lasted much more than it did. Some people say that we got off easily having spent the better part of that last year hiding but they just didn't know what it was like. We were alone, and hungry, the weight of the world on our shoulders…" she shook her head "I was only eighteen years old. It was horrible, I can't even imagine what it must have been like for Harry…"

All of a sudden, she was swimming in an ocean of memories. Endless nights keeping watch, the consuming feeling of the horcrux around her neck. Harry's nightmares, the cold, the hunger, her own nightmares which only got worse after what happened in Malfoy Manor, the pain of the torture… the fear, the deep feeling of panic when she realized that her whole life would change forever, how she had been terrified of losing Harry. The extreme fright that filled her when they'd learnt that _he_ was the last horcrux. The battle, the way Hogwarts reeked to death and fear…

The war. The feeling of loneliness.

"It was horrible" she blinked away the tears that clouded her vision. "There was nothing exciting or heroic about it."

By that point of the story, Rosalie had wrapped an arm around her and Teddy was holding her free hand. All of them were making an effort to blink back the tears.

"We came to a point in which we felt like we were living a nightmare, I think that's why Harry asked me to marry him that night and why I said yes without giving it a second thought" a small smile played on her lips "We needed to feel real, we desperately needed to believe that we could actually have a life and a future after all that was over."

Hermione wiped her face and smiled faintly. She had to remind herself that it was over, that she was safe and that all of that was nothing but past, memories, memories that couldn't harm her anymore. She was alive, and save, surrounded by people who loved her.

She looked at the three teenagers around her and smiled a more genuine smile. They were the reason why so many had fought and died. The world they lived in, a world in which they didn't know war or fear in the way she'd experienced them, that was what they'd fought for. Watching them, young, strong, happy full of life and hope, it was like winning the war all over again.

"It wasn't all that bad, was is?" Rosalie asked almost scared of the answer "You were just telling us about the first time you two kissed. There must have been some good moments, some light."

"Of course there were" Hermione reassured her "Even in the darkest of times, Harry and I managed to find some happiness…" she whispered.

Rosalie smiled broadly and she didn't even need to ask for Hermione to know that she wanted to hear _those_ stories. Three different pairs of eyes were looking at her expectantly.

"I'll tell you about it" she promised "Just not tonight."

Victoire's smile dropped at that last statement, Rosalie was a little bit better at hiding her disappointment, but Hermione still noticed it; even Teddy wanted to hear more.

"Don't look at me like that, Victoire" she said laughing at the girl's pouting face. "I've told you enough, we still have three weeks after you lot go back to school. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time for more stories."

And just like that, she was back to her normal lively self. Rosalie smiled when she saw her brown eyes clear again, she hated that haunted look on her eyes.

"Look at the time!" she said when she looked at her charmed watch "Off to bed, all of you."

"Oh, Mione, come on! We're not _five_!" Teddy complained.

"Speak for yourself, Lupin. I'd say our dear Victoire here looks around that age" Rosalie joked and the blonde girl stuck her tongue out at her "You see? She's the perfect picture of a five-year-old!"

"Screw you, Rose!"

"Language, young girl!" Hermione scolded her smiling at their endless teasing.

"So you'll tell us more?" Victoire asked hopefully and Rosalie's eyes lit up waiting for her answer.

"I will" she nodded "Now off to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."

"You promise?" Rosalie asked looking into her eyes.

"I promise. Now go to sleep, Rose."

She nodded and all three of them hugged Hermione extra tightly before making their way upstairs to call it a night.

Hermione smiled at the thought of the kids asking her for more stories. Surprisingly, she was looking forward to sharing more of her memories with them. She could understand the why they were so interested to hear more, especially Rosalie. After all, the stories of the war were about Voldemort's defeat as much as they were about her.


	3. Chapter 3

_Hello there!_

 _Ok, so this is how this is going to work: this story will not follow a chronological order. Each chapter is going to be a small glimpse at my version of Harry and Hermione's world. the timeframe of each chapter will be set by means of a date at the beginning of each chapter._

 _Let me know what you think about the chapter and any possible sugguestion/question/etc._

 _Thanks for your support :)_

* * *

 ** _Unbreakable_**

 _III._ May 2nd, 2001

"Happy birthday, dear Victoire, happy birthday to you!" a group of people chorused joyfully and then everyone waited expectantly in silence all eyes fixed on the stunningly beautiful two-year old.

"Blow, sweetie" Molly Weasley said next to her granddaughter gesturing to the two golden candles on the cake.

Fleur was standing in front of the flower-shaped cake Molly had baked. She was holding a toddler in her arms while everyone gathered around the table. Next to her, Bill Weasley was smiling at his daughter. Victorie Weasley had been born exactly a year after the Battle of Hogwarts and she had brought light and happiness into the Weasley family which, even after three whole years had passed since the battle, was still recovering from the pain the war had left on its wake.

Victoire had been a breathtakingly beautiful baby from the day she had been born. Her sparkling blue eyes, filled with hope and totally unclouded of the pain and loss of the war, had been like a light in the darkness for the Weasleys after the hard time they'd gone through once the war was over.

"Like this, Victoire" Fleur said patiently and showed her how to blow the candles. It took her a few failed attempts, but soon the little girl managed it and everyone cheered happily as she giggled.

Hermione joined the cheering and a wide smile shone in her face when she saw Rosalie clapping her little hands in Ron's arms.

"Let Rosie and Teddy try" somebody said.

Teddy, who was standing on a chair right next to Hermione looked up at her with excitement.

"Can I try?" asked the three year old.

"As far as I know, your birthday was last month…" she said, but it was no secret that she could never deny anything to the little boy. "Try to make a wish" she winked.

For a few minutes, Teddy, Rosalie and Victoire took turns to blow the candles. Every time one of them did, somebody would shoot red sparks into the air and the children would giggle. Laughter. All three of them had brought so much laughter and light with them. After all the loss and the darkness their world had suffered during the war, they were like a breath of fresh air.

The last three years that had passed after the defeat of Voldemort had been anything but easy. There had been a lot of work to do. Rebuilding the places that had been destroyed, capturing Voldemort's remaining followers, coping with the loss of so many people… the chaos that the war had caused had not entirely vanished, but things were starting to fall into place.

In Hermione's case, things were particularly difficult sometimes. She still had terrible nightmares to deal with almost on a daily basis and with everything that had happened it hadn't been easy to go back to school and finish her studies on top of all the rest. Still, just like the rest of the Wizarding World, she was pulling through. She had taken her NEWTS almost a year after the Battle of Hogwarts and she had spent the next two years training to become a healer. After all the pain she had witnessed, healing seemed like a good way to put her knowledge to good use and save people from death pain the way she hadn't had been able to do during the war.

Some things were more difficult than others. On days like that one, when everyone had gathered to celebrate Victoire's second birthday, the empty seats around the table were especially evident. It was still heartbreaking to see Teddy so happy and full of life and to know that he'd never know his parents, that Tonks and Remus would never have the chance to watch him grow up. Having a conversation with George without being painfully reminded of his brother's death wasn't easy either and even after three whole years, the empty seat next to Mrs. Weasley was almost impossible to ignore. So many had been taken away on the battle…

Hermione took a deep breath and blinked away her tears. After all, it was a party and she wasn't supposed to be crying.

"Cake!" Rosalie's cheerful voice distracted her from her thoughts quite effectively when Ron approached her holding the little girl in his arms.

"Yes, Rosie" Hermione beamed at her "I can see that you've got some of Vic's chocolate cake, haven't you?" she laughed and cleaned the chocolate that was smeared around her mouth with a quick flick of her wand.

"Chocolate" Rosalie giggled and threw her arms into the air in Hermione's direction as soon as she was close enough to her. The witch took her from Ron's arms and held her close to her chest with a smile, Rosalie rested her head against her shoulder and Hermione pressed a small kiss on the top of her head.

"Apparently she liked my mother's cake" Ron said, smiling at both of them.

"Don't we all do?"

"Mione! Mione!" Teddy approached her with a wide grin on his little face, he was holding a piece of cake with extreme carefulness "Cake?" he said offering it to her.

"Thank you, Teddy!" she smiled and shifted Rosalie's position in her arms so that she could have a free hand to take the piece of cake the toddler was so kindly offering.

"Teddy helps Molly" he said proudly.

"Of course you do…" she nodded. Even when he was only three years old, Teddy was extremely kind, always eager to help anyone who needed it.

"He really takes after Remus, doesn't he?" Ron said, once the little boy had left and Hermione nodded.

"Yeah, he does…" she sighed.

They guessed that Teddy was a metamorphmagus just like his mother had been because on various occasions he had woken up with a different hair or eye colour, but, since he didn't really understand much of magic yet, he didn't have much control over his features which remained constant most of the time. His hair was almost the exact same shade of light brown Remus's had been and he looked remarkably similar to his father, except for the colour of his eyes which was almost the same as Tonk's natural eye colour had been, a twinklin shade of dark brown. He had a fairly pale complexion and a wide smile capable of lighting up the whole room.

Hermione waited until the kid left to give her piece of cake to Ron since she couldn't eat it while holding Rosalie.

"Don't you want me to take her so that you can eat?"

"No, you can have it."

"You sure?" he asked again and she nodded.

Hermione would chose to hold the little girl over cake anytime. Rosalie was resting comfortably in her arms while she stroked her soft brown curls and her little body was starting to relax slowly.

"I think somebody is a little bit sleepy" she could feel Rosalie's body relaxing against hers and her breathing slowing down.

"I wouldn't be too surprised if she needed a nap. After all, she's spent the whole day running around with Vicky and Teddy."

"You know that Fleur hates it when we call her Vicky, Ron…" she said and Ron rolled his eyes.

"And… she's off" Ron announced when he saw the little girl's eyes closing, the small hand that had been clutching Hermione's sweater loosened its grip and Hermione shifted the little girl's possition in her arms so that she could sleep more comfortably. She took a seat on the nearest couch and Ron sat next to her.

"It really suits you" the redhaired wizard said looking at how Hermione was stroking Rosalie's hair while she slept.

"Most of the time I don't have the faintest idea about what I'm doing" she admitted with a smile while she looked at her sleeping face with sparkling eyes.

"You're doing perfectly fine" Ron reassured her "She's lovely."

"She is…" Hermione nodded with a wide smile on her face as she watched her sleep and the party unfolded around her.

Hermione talked to a few more people while Rosalie slept in her arms. It had been a really long time since she had seen some of the party guests and she was happy to chat with all her old acquaintances.

Eventually, even Minerva McGonagall, who had been Bill's favourite professor in Hogwarts, approached the sofa on which Hermione was sitting calmly while the little Rose slept.

"Minerva" the witch said affectionately.

The two of them had become much closer than they had ever been during the first weeks after the defeat of Voldemort, when the young witch had been one of the few who decided to stay at the castle to help with all the work that had to be done there. They had replaced wards and protective charms, rebuilt the castle as much as they had been able to and arranged everything to hold an appropriate funeral for all those who had fallen during the battle.

"You look splendid" Hermione's former professor said "Both of you do, actually" she added with a smile.

"Thank you, Professor. How's everything at Hogwarts?"

"I must admit that it's slightly monotonous without you and Mr Potter there." Hermione laughed and Minerva smiled at her affectionately "I had almost forgotten what it was like to have a normal quiet year. Last year was good and we're expecting to start another good year this coming September. People are less and less afraid and a lot of the parents that had been tutoring their children at home are starting to send them back to school… Everything is slowly starting to go back to normal."

"It is" Hermione nodded in agreement. "People have been feeling much better after the trials finished last year and most Death Eaters were firmly sentenced to Azkaban."

"Have you had any news about Miss Lovegood's treatment?"

"Unfortunately no…" Hermione shook her head with a pained expression. She had started working on that as soon as she'd started to study healing magic. "We're still doing everything we can."

A dark shadow crossed Minerva's face and Hermione blinked a few times and sniffed to hide the sudden desire to cry at the thought of what had happened to Luna and her inability to help her no matter how much she had tried.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, dear."

"Don't worry. It's ok" Hermione managed to smile and she concentrated on Rosalie's face again to drive all the saddening thoughts away.

"I'm sure you'll be able to do something to help her. Remember that if there's anything I can help you with, all you need to do is owl me."

"Thank you, Minerva" this time, she really smiled.

Their conversation was interrupted by the laughters of Teddy and Victoire who approached them looking for Rosalie but, since the little girl was still sleeping, they soon got tired of the adults and left after making Hermione promise that she would call Teddy as soon as Rosalie woke up.

"Something tells me that these three are going to be quite some item once they go to Hogwarts…" Minerva smiled fondly. "They seem to share a pretty strong bond for their ages."

"They do" Hermione nodded "I'm really happy that they have friends and people who love them around them even at such a young age. Especially Teddy."

"It never ceases to amaze me…" McGonagall said looking at the two kids who were playing on the other corner of the room "How much he resembles Remus."

"I was just talking to Ron about that. He looks a lot like his father."

"How's Mr Weasley?"

"Ron's fine" Hermione said with a small smile "For now he's helping George with the shop. They've come up with quite a number of interesting inventions lately. I think he's happy there and George does seem to be getting better."

"I'm sure young Victoire has been a very welcomed joy for the Weasleys after such tremendous losses…"

"Yes. Molly's been much better since Victoire's birth. I think it was especially difficult for her. Losing Fred and Arthur was hard for all of us, but Molly?" she sighed "There was a time we thought that the Burrow would never be the same again. I still think it won't be exactly the same, but… it feels a lot more like it used to."

"All wounds eventually heal, Miss Granger. Some leave deeper scars than others, but all of them heal."

Hermione nodded in agreement, her eyes moving almost automatically to the scars on her left arm, they had faded a lot but they were still easily noticeable. They didn't hurt anymore, at least not physically. About the rest of the wounds that the war had left… well, she was still working on that. The witch tried to remind herself about the fact that not everything had been bad during the past few years. In fact, she had also know joy even beyond what she had thought possible, she had experienced love in ways which she hadn't even imagined it existed.

Recovering from the war wasn't easy, some memories still hurt more than others and some wounds hadn't actually healed yet, but she was sure that she was moving in the right direction. She would forever carry the scars of the war. She'd probably keep having nightmares and behaving a little bit too jumpy. Possibly tears would still surprise her on the weirdest moments and she would still miss the people she had lost forever but, as she talked to her former Professor about how their world was slowly starting to get over the war, she felt hope running through her body.

Hope… She beamed at the little girl in her arms when she stirred and opened her eyes after a while, twinkling green eyes looking straight into her brown ones. Rosalie Hope Potter, the living proof that there could be hope light even in the darkest of times.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Hey there folks!_**

 ** _First of all, thank you all for reading :)_**

 ** _I have to make some things clear before I start with the next chapter:_**

 ** _\- This is NOT a Ron/Hermione fic. The pairing is still Harry/Hermione, even though Ron was seen interacting with Hermione last chapter._**

 ** _\- Rosalie's name is not inspired on the fic: "Harry Potter and the Wasted Oportunity". I hadn't heard of that story until one of you mentioned it. I'll try to check it out when I have time. I chose the name because it was similar to how Hermione had named her daughter in the original story but diffrent at the same time so... That's pretty much it._**

 ** _\- Don't worry, you'll get to know what happened to Harry soon enough. For now, Enjoy the fact that the little girl with messy brown hair and green eyes is called Rosalie Hope_ Potter _. Yes, in case you were still wondering, she_ is _Harry and Hermione's daughter._**

 ** _Remember that you can ask anything you'd like to know about the story :)_**

 ** _This one picks up the morning after the first chapter :)_**

 ** _I hope you enjoy it and please, let me know what you think in the review box._**

* * *

 ** _Unbreakable_**

 _IV. January, 1998_

Harry was the first one to wake up that morning. He felt confused when he woke up gradually drifting out of sleep without any nightmarish image in his mind. The first thing he noticed was a warm weight on his chest and the fact that his fingers were tangled in a mane of soft curls.

Hermione.

Everything hit him at once. The way she'd kissed him, how he'd kissed her back, her body around him, their skins making contact for the first time, her words. _I love you._ He shivered tightening his arms around her. _I love you, too._ In seventeen years of life, Harry had never heard those words being directly said to him. He allowed the memories of the previous night to fill his mind and he smiled. An honest, happy smile. Probably the first one on his face after too long.

Suddenly she shifted in her sleep and Harry's heart almost stopped. He panicked at the thought of her waking up but she simply moved a little, breathed in deeply and kept on sleeping. Harry sighed in relief. He didn't know what to do, what to say, how to face her. After all, he had been so overwhelmed at learning that she loved him back, so deeply stunned by the feelings being with her caused him that he had spoken without thinking.

 _"Marry me."_ he'd whispered out of breath after they'd made love for the first time.

 _"What?"_ she'd answered completely taken aback by those two simple words.

 _"If this is what love feels like... I want this, I want this forever. Promise me we'll survive the war... promise me after all this is over you and I..."_ Harry remembered his own words with a strange mix of feelings. When he'd got close to her ear to whisper something he'd been thinking about telling her that he loved, the I love you had been already in his mind, on the tip of his tongue and then those words had left his lips almost on their own accord.

 _Marry me._

And she'd said yes. Harry'd never imagined that his whole world could be so dramatically changed with only one word. He'd never really thought about actually marrying someone, for as long as he had been old enough for those thoughts to cross his mind, he had known that it was his fate to either defeat Voldemort or die trying. He couldn't see beyond that, his whole existence seemed to be tied to that fact, but she'd felt so lovely in his arms, her skin, her eyes, her voice. It was so good that he'd felt it would vanish if he didn't do something about it. So he'd asked her to bond herself to him eternally and she'd said yes.

He was still shocked when he left the bed they'd been sharing, being careful enough to not wake her. They'd spent the whole night sleeping together so that meant that no one had been keeping watch for around seven hours and he needed to check that everything was ok and the protective charms were still in place. He got dressed and picked up the locket that had been lying discarded on the ground next to the bed. It had been careless to leave it there for so long, but he couldn't stand the thought of keeping it on while making love to Hermione.

The cold morning air felt good on Harry's pale skin, it made him feel real and awake, it made him confirm that he hadn't just woken up from a particularly good dream, that he'd indeed woken up that morning with Hermione's sweet warm body in his arms. He walked around the small clearing on which they'd been staying for the past two nights and checked every spell twice, allowing his mind to wander. Allowing himself to think about the possibility of a future. It seemed so unreal, so far away. After all, they hadn't made much progress with their mission. They'd only found one horcrux and it had been impossible to destroy it. Just like Ron had suggested. They were as close to finding the rest as they were to destroying the one they'd found. It seemed to be impossible to find Gryffindor's sword and although they had been to the few places they knew had some connection with Voldemort, finding the next horcrux seemed absolutely unreal.

Harry was frowning deeply when he decided to go back to the tent and he was just half surprised to find Hermione sitting at their small table with a book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, another cup was resting on the table, apparently waiting for him.

"Hey" he smiled and he grabbed the cup before taking a seat next to her "Thanks" he added and took a sip of the warm drink.

"Hey" she whispered back.

"Did you sleep well?" Harry asked without thinking and Hermione's face shone with her blush. As soon as he realized where her thoughts had gone, his own face was bright scarlet too.

"Never better" she managed after a minute and a very soft and brief laugh followed her words.

"I… umm…" his hand jumped to the back of his head, scratching his scalp as if he were trying to reach something coherent to say "I sort of don't really know what to…"

"Yeah…" she nodded and hid half of her face behind the teacup.

"So… you're reading that book again?" he asked trying to find something to say to her. The old copy of the Tales of Beedle the Bard that Dumbledore had left her rested half forgotten in her lap while she held the cup with both of her hands.

"I am" she nodded "Mostly out of habit."

"You never told me what it is about. I mean, I know it's a book of children's stories but… you know I don't know how to read runes." Harry said clumsily, knowing the second he'd said the words that it had sounded stupid. It would look like he wanted to avoid talking to her about what had happened the night before, and she would be mad at him. He panicked, but before he could say anything else she put the cup down and picked up the book just to have something to do with her hands while she spoke.

"You've never asked" she gave him a small smile

"Did you know nobody's ever read me a story?"

Hermione looked up at him, her eyes shining with understanding and love.

"You never told me your childhood had been so…" she didn't finish the sentence for lack of a good word "I mean, I imagined it but still…" she looked up into his green eyes and smiled "I can read to you when you go to sleep sometime if you want to" right after she finished, her cheeks burned red and she rushed to say something else "Just so you can get the feeling, you know. Know what it is like. Straightly out of curiosity."

"Yeah, that'd be nice" a small smile played on the corner of his lips.

Hermione avoided his eyes and bit her lip looking down again. Harry's free hand shyly looked for her skin almost out of instinct and she didn't say anything when his fingers brushed hers and he took her hand in his just to feel her closer. After a long five minutes of a strangely awkward silence, Hermione sighed in frustration and looked directly at him.

"Ok, this is stupid. Let's talk about it or let's agree to not talk about it, but we have to do something. We'll drive each other nuts if we tiptoe around the other like this from now on."

Harry smiled when he heard her going back to her normal bossy and highly logical tone.

"Yeah… It's just us. This shouldn't be awkward."

"Exactly" she took a deep breath "Listen, I want you to answer this question with complete honesty. I don't want you to think about my feelings or anything. Just, just… say yes or no, ok?" she asked rushing through the words and Harry frowned in confusion but he nodded. "Do you regret last night?"

"What? No!"

Harry's answer had been so automatic that even with all her insecurities, Hermione believed him in a heartbeat. The moment he saw her wide bright smile, Harry knew he'd never forget it. He didn't know what he would do without that smile of hers. Even when they were hungry, cold and confused, Harry felt truly happy for a moment when he watched her smile.

"Good" she said "Because it was pretty close to be one of the best nights in my life and I…"

But she didn't finish, Harry took her face with both of his hands softly and placed a sweet kiss on her lips. Kissing her in the morning light felt strangely more real than all the times he'd kissed her in the darkness the night before. Her kiss was sweet and loving and Harry felt himself melting into her when she buried her hands in his messy black hair. He didn't break off the kiss for a long moment, enjoying the feel of her in his arms, the softness and sweetness of her lips on his and her fingers in his hair. He'd grown up so deprived of loving physical contact that he seemed simply unable to get enough of her touch.

It was not rushed and passionate like it had been the night before, it was just them, kissing, holding each other, saying their _I love yous_ all over again but without using any words.

After a while, Hermione simply rested her head on his shoulder and Harry wrapped his arms around her.

"We need to keep searching" she said.

"I've been thinking about it a lot" Harry started to speak in a careful tone "I think we should go back to Godric's Hollow."

"What?" Hermione straightened up in a second and looked him in the eye. "You're joking, aren't you?"

"Just… think about it. We never got to get into the house. Maybe that's where Dumbledore…"

"Harry, the last time we went there thinking that Dumbledore might have left us something we almost died! We can't go back."

"But it's the only thing that makes sense" he tried to persuade her "We don't have more clues. Our next option is to go search Hogwarts."

"Don't be ridiculous, Harry. We'd be dead the second we step on the castle's grounds" she said annoyed at the fact that he wanted to put himself in danger like that.

"Then let's go back to my parent's house. Maybe we'll find something useful…"

"Or maybe we'll find a snake with a piece of Voldemort's soul in it waiting to kill both of us!"

But Harry couldn't say anything back to her because both of them were distracted with the sound of a loud crack of apparition not far from the tent. They could hear rough voices full of excitement approaching them and Harry froze in panic.

"The wards…" he said. "They can't see us."

But they were distracted by the Sneakoscope resting next to the tent entrance which lit up and started to spin rapidly.

"Herm…" Harry started to speak but he was interrupted by Hermione's spell.

" _Silencio_." she whispered and the spell hit Harry full on the face. His lips kept moving, but no sound came out.

"Come out of there with your hands up!" someone shouted from outside the tent and Hermione shivered in panic.

Hermione took Harry's hand and tried to apparate away. She tried again and again but nothing happened. Her wards, her protective spells. The same ones which had kept them safe and had just failed to protect them were preventing her from apparating away to safety.

"Get out of here. I love you" she whispered while she desperately rummaged in her beaded bag until she finally found what she was looking for.

"I said get out of there!" they heard the shouting even closer.

Exactly a second before an armed wizard entered the tent, Hermione hung her bag on Harry's neck and hid him under the invisibility cloak.

He wanted to say something but her spell was too strong and he couldn't make a sound.

"Get out of here!" Hermione screamed as Harry saw an unknown wizard dragging her roughly outside the tent.

"No!" He shouted but no sound came out.

Harry could see the wizard's hand all over Hermione's body, she was kicking in every direction and Harry saw her wand falling to the ground.

"Get out of here!" she'd scream over and over again looking at the invisible spot on which she knew Harry was standing.

"What do we have here?" the wizard said looking at her hungrily "Look at this delicious little one, Fenrir!" he shouted.

Harry froze when he saw Greyback among the men, the same werewolf who had turned Remus. He was wearing Death Eater's robes and his eyes shone with cruelty. His stomach turned over, he wanted to be sick. The first wizard threw Hermione violently on the ground at Greyback's feet and, without making a sound, Harry jumped in the middle of them. Hermione felt him in the air around her and panicked. In a single move, she jumped to where her wand had fallen and picked it up. She had one clear shot, she could have tried to disapparate again, she could have done anything to defend herself but the only thing she did was cast a Sticking Charm on Harry.

" _Expelliarmus_!" The first wizard shouted again and Hermione's wand flew out of her hand.

"Leave!" she screamed desperately at Harry when she felt him trying to drag her back. "It's over, leave!"

"Do you think you can escape from us?" another of the wizards shouted at her and Hermione tried to crawl away from him.

Harry felt his insides turn when he heard the sound of one of the wizard's boots hitting Hermione's stomach. She screamed and coughed trying to fight for air.

"Let her go!" Harry tried to shout but the stupid silencing charm was working perfectly "Take me! I'm the one you want!" he said without sound again. He tried to take off the cloak to get the Death Eater's attention but it was impossible. Hermione's last spell had been a sticking charm. It didn't matter how much he tried, he couldn't get the cloak off him.

"Easy, Scabior" greyback said, pushing him away from Hermione and he knelt next to her "We still don't know if she's valuable." He pushed Hermione's curls away from her face and looked at her. "Who are you, princess?"

"Penelope Clearwater" she sounded terrified and out of breath after the kick to her stomach, but Harry was surprised that she wasn't crying.

"What's your blood status?!" shouted the wizard that had dragged her outside of the tent.

"Half-blood" her voice shook slightly.

"And what are you doing out here in the woods?"

"I'm looking for my mother" Hermione said, apparently she had a whole story planned "She's been on the run for two weeks and my sister has gotten sick."

"And you are all by yourself here, aren't you?" Greyback asked getting so close to her that Hermione was starting to feel sick with the smell of his breath.

"Yes…" her voice shook.

"Search the tent!" his voice echoed in the clearing and two of the wizards accompanying him rushed inside the tent. "So why would a delicious young flower like you use the Dark Lord's name?"

"I…" her voice shook.

"Do you know who used to like using his name, Penelope?" he asked taking a handful of her hair and pulling her up on a standing position and Hermione screamed.

Harry had to look away to stop himself from punching the werewolf full in the face. They were disarmed, outnumbered and alone. Their only advantage was that they didn't know of his presence so he had to keep it that way.

"I… I don't know" Hermione mumbled.

"The Order of the Phoenix. Does that ring any bell?" he got near her face once again and Hermione tried to look away from him.

"N-no."

"It doesn't?" he pressed. "They used to believe they were brave for using the Dark Lord's name, so the name's been Tabooed. We've tracked quite a few of them like this…" he said looking at her suspiciously. "Doesn't that sound familiar to you? _The Order of the Phoenix?_ "

"I… I've never heard about it."

"Greyback, look! On the Prophet!" said one of the wizards coming out of the tent. "Look! It's the girl!"

Greyback snatched the paper away and looked at the picture of a witch, right below Harry's undesirable Nº 1 poster.

" _Hermione Granger._ " he read " _The eighteen year old Gryffindor has shared a close friendship with Undesirable Number One for the last six years they've spent together at Hogwarts._ It does look a little bit like you, don't you think, _Penelope_?" he asked and Hermione looked away.

"It's not me!" she screamed terrified and the werewolf laughed.

"We'll see" he said and kept reading " _Everyone thought that due to being a muggle-born, she'd left the country with her muggle parents. But the ministry has tracked the couple to Australia where they've been hiding without their daughter. The Grangers are now under Ministry's custody and after some sources have claimed to see her, Hermione Granger is believed to be travelling with Harry Potter…_ What about that?" he asked again "Does _that_ sound more familiar?"

"What've you done to them? Where are them?" she couldn't help herself to ask about her parents.

"So it is you, then!" Scabior shouted.

All he could see was Hermione's tears shining on her face, she was shaking, terrified. And there was nothing he could do to help her.

"Greyback!" the third wizard shouted "There are two cups still warm and two beds in here! She wasn't travelling alone."

"Well, well, well… What do we have here?"

"He's gone! He left. Disapparated!" Hermione said desperately.

"Bind her up with the other prisoner!" Greyback roared "We have to find Potter!"

Somebody pushed Hermione to the ground again and dragged her a short way. She crawled into a sitting position and tried to kick the wizard away again.

"He's gone! Leave, get out of here!" She screamed again and Harry knew that that last part was addressed to him. It felt like his blood was boiling in his veins when he saw the wizard slap Hermione on the face.

"Shut up!" he pushed her down again, he magically bound her back-to-back with someone else and, making sure that the two prisoners wouldn't be able to break free, he joined the rest to search for Potter.

"Hermione?" That was the first time Harry or Hermione became aware of the other prisoner.

"Dean?" she asked with a shaking voice trying to wipe away the blood from her lower lip.

"Hermione…" he said sadly "I'm so sorry they've caught you too. Where's… where's Harry?"

"Who are these people?" she asked without wanting answering her previous question.

"Snatchers." Dean said simply "They're looking for people in hiding to exchange them for gold. They… They'll probably take us to the Ministry or to a Death Eater's base."

"And then?" she asked in fear.

"Me? Probably Azkaban with the rest of the muggle-borns and blood traitors. You… well, they'll probably they'll want to… get some information out of you. Is it true that you were travelling with him?"

"Yeah…" Hermione nodded in a broken voice. Learning that her parents had been captured by the Ministry and being captured by Death Eaters herself in one day was too much even for her. "But he's gone" she tried to convince herself. He couldn't make it too far without a wand, food or shelter; but she had done her best to give him his best chance.

Harry's heart broke when he saw her starting to sob and he knelt in front of her, softly brushing her face with his fingers through the invisibility cloak.

She gasped in surprise when she felt him. Her hand flew to her face and intertwined with his invisible one. She started shaking her head madly, the tears streaming down her face even thicker.

"Get out of here. Leave. Go away. They'll kill you. Harry get the hell out of here." She cried desperately trying to push him away when she felt his invisible body hugging her through the magical binds. "Please… Leave" she sobbed into his chest and, still unable to make a sound, Harry shook his head and held on to her.

"Hermione, he's gone…" Dean said trying to comfort her. Of course he couldn't see him, but Hermione could feel him. Even though he was invisible, she could still feel his touch through the cloak. He was completely silenced, not even his breathing made a sound.

"Please…" she tried again.

But Harry stayed with her. Whatever happened, he wasn't going to leave her.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey you :) I'm back with a new chapter, this one takes place after Chapter 2 ;)_

 _I hope you like it :) please, let me know what you think about it in the review box_

* * *

 _V. August 2011_

Harry Potter arrived home well past midnight that night. His auror robes were still stained with blood and his hair was messier than it normally was after the battle but he was still in one piece, happy to be back home with his family. The healers at St. Mungo's had told them that it'd be better for him to spend the night at the hospital to check that the Blood Replenishing Potion worked like it should but he had declined. After all, the healers hadn't had been able to come up with a good counterargument when he said that he'd go back home to one of the best young healers of their generation. As soon as he'd felt better enough to apparate back home, he'd left the hospital with a soft _pop_.

His house was strangely silent, especially considering that the kids were staying for a few weeks of the summer. His heart started beating a bit faster while he walked up the stairs, he couldn't stop himself from being a little bit paranoid after everything he had been though. When he reached the white door of Rosalie's room he turned the knob carefully and entered the room as silently as he could, Victoire Weasley was sleeping on one of the two twin beds in the room and Rosalie was resting on the other one. He made his way to Rose's bed and crouched next to her.

Where had all those years gone? All of a sudden, his little Rosalie was starting to become a stunningly beautiful young girl. Her face was no longer that of the excited little girl who waited for him to jump into his arms as soon as he opened the door every day after work, she was no longer the five year old who seemed to have a supernatural way to perceive when he'd had a nightmare and choose that particular nights to sneak into the kitchen looking for a midnight sweet snack, she was no longer the eight year old who was beaming with happiness on her birthday when Hermione finally allowed him to give her her first broomstick and teach her how to ride it. But even though she wasn't his baby girl anymore, Rose still managed to surprise him every day with how brilliant, clever and simply amazing she was.

She stirred in her sleep when she felt Harry's presence. She'd been like that since she'd been born. Whenever someone looked at her with too much intensity, she'd wake up and her sparkling emerald eyes would blind you with their beauty for a second.

"Daddy?" she mumbled half asleep.

"Right here, princess" he smiled at her and her eyes fluttered open to meet his.

"You're back" she said smiling.

"Just as promised" he smiled back at her.

"Thanks for letting me know" she whispered and readjusted her position on the bed to let her father give her a warm hug.

Since she was old enough to know that Harry had a very dangerous job being an auror, Rosalie had asked him to always wake her up and give her a goodnight kiss to let her know he was back and alright, no matter the time. He'd promised that he'd always go back to her and he was yet to fail in keeping his word. There was almost nothing in the world that could be compared to the happiness he saw on his little girl's face every time he got back home safely. Even after all those years, having somebody who loved him so deeply and without reservations still amazed him.

"You'll tell me about the mission?" she asked, always the incurably curious one.

"Tomorrow" Harry promised "Now go back to sleep, Rosie."

"I love you" she whispered while he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

"I love you too. Sleep tight, I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded while she closed her eyes and, by the time Harry closed the door behind him, she was back to sleep. The wizard took the time to make sure that his godson was also sleeping safely in his room and then he entered his own room. He had reached a point on which he didn't even ask himself how could it be possible for Hermione's beauty to still surprise him like that even after all those years. He just accepted the fact. Her peaceful and intense beauty would never cease to stun him every time he saw her.

After taking a short moment to take in her sleeping form, he stepped out of his boots and took off his dirty auror robes. There was nothing he wanted more than to lay in their bed with her and forget about the whole world for a moment while he wrapped his arms around the breathtakingly soft curves of her body. But he knew he needed a shower first. His hair was messier than ever and sticky with dried blood and he could still perceive the faint smell of death and burning flesh all over his body. He'd spent the last six days on an auror mission trying to track a group of radical supporters of the diseased Lord Voldemort who'd been terrorizing a small wizarding village on the north-eastern corner of Scotland. Finding their hiding place had been almost as unpleasant as having to sort through the piles of dozens of dead bodies, muggle and magical, that they had killed during the previous three months. They'd found a total of five wizards and managed to arrest all of them without having to kill any of them. Harry's team had not suffered any losses, but in the end, it had been a close shave. They'd been vicious and grew out of control when they realized that the auror leading the mission was no other than Harry Potter himself.

Wanting nothing more that to put the memories of yet another battle behind, Harry stepped into the shower and spent a good ten minutes washing his hair and skin. He still felt slightly weak after all the blood he had lost and he'd swear that his reflexes were not as sharp as usual, but he was back home in one piece. At the end of the day, that was all that counted. His back was still sore where one of the curses had struck and he knew that he'd probably acquired a few more scars to add to his ever-growing collection. Hermione wouldn't be happy about that. Just as she was usually not happy with his whole putting himself in danger constantly in his job as an auror. But as much as she didn't like it, she understood him, she accepted what he wanted and who he was without questioning it, just as he always had.

After he finished his shower, Harry dried himself up with a quick spell and walked back to his bed to find his beloved wife. Hermione was waiting for him sitting on the bed with her legs crossed indian style. Her wild mane of brown curls around her face and a worried look on her eyes as she inspected the robes he had discarded before his shower.

"You're back" she whispered as soon as he got onto the bed next to her.

"Finally" he sighed and gladly kissed her back when her lips practically attacked him.

"I hate it" she whispered a little bit out of breath "I hate it when I don't know if you'll come back to me."

"I'll always come back to you, Hermione. I thought that by now you would've got used to the fact that I always keep that particular promise" he smiled at her wrapping his arms around her. "You don't need to worry."

"But I do… Maybe it's time to try something different" she suggested carefully.

"You know how much I love the aurors, Mione."

"And I also know that you got to the hospital today practically at death's door. I was terrified" she said with a slight shaking in her tone.

"Who told you?"

"It doesn't matter, Harry. You know I work at the hospital, they contacted me the second you got there. I was the one who told them to let you come home because I missed you madly and I couldn't wait to see you and make sure that you're ok."

"I am. I'm alright, we're together, we're fine" he reassured her and hugged him against his chest.

It was like that all the time. Every time he came back home after experiencing yet another close to death experience she'd be terribly scared of losing him, even scared enough to suggest that he left the aurors to try something different, less risky.

"You have a family who loves you, you know?" she whispered against his chest.

"I do. That's why I try so hard to come back to you, that's the only reason why I've escaped alive of many missions. I love being an auror, but I wouldn't give up the happiness I have with you here for the world. I try to be as careful as I can. And I'm still around, I'm not doing it that bad."

"Just… Just promise me you'll consider Minerva's offer…"

He sighed and nodded. A few weeks before, Minerva McGonagall had offered him the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching position at Hogwarts and Hermione had been delighted by it. She was extremely keen on him doing something which didn't involve being in danger every second he was on duty.

"How was it?" she finally asked.

"The mission?" Harry asked back while he readjusted his position on the bed to be more comfortable and Hermione automatically rested her head on his chest, right above his beating heart.

"Did you find her?" Hermione asked again.

"We saw her… which is more than we'd done in the past three years. She looks strangely more in control of herself, although I still think she's out of her mind. And she's the one heading all death eater groups now… The things they've done to the poor people that had gone missing…" Harry cut off his own speech when he felt Hermione shiver in his arms. "Sorry…"

Even after more than ten years had passed, Hermione still had troubles remembering the time they'd spent at Malfoy Manor, most of which, she'd spent being tortured under Bellatrix's wand.

"No, it's alright" she sighed. "And did you figure out what is it that she's been hiding all this time?"

"She and a small group of others disapparated the moment we saw them. It's strange, I'd never seen Bellatrix running away from a good fight…" he frowned "The first thing we did when we got inside was try to take the bodies back to the base. Some of them had been there for more than two months." he shook his head trying to erase some of the most revolting images from his mind.

"How many?"

"Thirty-seven."

"That's a lot…" she whispered surprised and held him even closer.

"Thirty-seven in three months. Around twenty of them were muggles…"

"Do you think it's ever going to end?" she asked looking directly at him, allowing her eyes to show a little bit of the fear that still haunted her at night.

"I don't know… I just wish I knew what she's hiding."

"You will" Hermione said, one hundred percent convinced "Please try to not die while trying."

"I promise" he smiled and framed her face with his soft hands, looking straight into her eyes "I love you" he said and it still felt like the first time he'd done it.

"I love you too, Harry Potter" she smiled at him and rested her forehead against his "It's good to have you back" she added right before their lips met in a soft lingering kiss.

"It's good to be home" he smiled before he kissed her again.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with all she had. She'd never get tired of the intoxicating feeling of his lips on hers, his hands all over his body. In his arms, she felt the most alive she'd ever been.

"How are the children?" Harry asked after they had calmed down a little bit.

"They've missed you lots" she admitted "Especially when I didn't let Rose and Teddy sneak out to play quidditch in the middle of the night two nights ago."

"Why wouldn't you!"

"Because they could get hurt in the darkness!" she answered as if it were obvious and Harry rolled his eyes at her.

"You're impossible…" he shook his head and she laughed.

"Teddy finally changed his eye colour" she said with a smile "That was the last feature that resembled you."

"Why do you think he did it?" Harry asked curiously.

Over the past five years, Teddy had made it his life's goal to look like Harry, and being a metamorphmagus, he'd reached a point on which he looked more like him than even Rose did. The kids had been mistaken by twin siblings countless times on the streets, but almost a year before he had started to differentiate himself from the rest of the family, particularly when he was around Rosalie.

"You can't think of a reason, can you?" Hermione looked at him with a glint in her eyes and Harry shook his head "Really, Harry? You can be quite thick sometimes…"

"I don't know… Maybe there's something he didn't like about me and that's why…"

"Stop right there, Potter" she interrupted him "Teddy _adores_ you. It doesn't have anything to do with you. I think it's something else entirely… On Monday Rose said redhaired guys were _hot_ , your godson's been sporting perfectly red silky hair and freckles to match it since that day…"

"What? Wait… When did Rose become old enough to think boys are _hot_?" he asked practically horrified.

"Easy there…" she laughed "She was half joking, but apparently Ted took it quite seriously."

"Are you saying that Teddy… likes our Rosie?" Harry frowned in confusion.

"Honestly Harry, how come you've not seen it?"

"That's a little bit upsetting…" he admitted "Do you think she knows?"

"Apparently she's as oblivious as her father" Hermione teased him "Anyway, they're still children. They grew up being family. If something ever happens, it'll take them awhile…"

"You're scaring me…"

Hermione laughed and gave him a quick kiss.

"They asked me about the war today" Hermione told him.

"Really?"

"Yeah, they caught me a little bit off guard. I told them about our first kiss and some things about the rest of the war… Rose really wanted me to tell her stories about us during the war, about any good memories we have of that time."

"I imagine it's natural. After all, that's the time when you got pregnant." Harry reasoned.

"There were some good moments…" she smiled up at him. "It was terrifying, but we were happy sometimes."

"Yeah, we were" Harry smiled and a memory of her crying with emotion the first time they cast a spell to hear their baby's heartbeat to make sure that everything was ok after a battle sprang into his mind.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked with curiosity shining in her eyes.

"That I'm glad to be alive" he said honestly, not concentrating on that particular memory but on the feeling it had given him back then "I'm glad to have you and Rosie and Ted… My family" he smiled widely. Having her in his arms, knowing that his daughter was sleeping safely in the next room, having a home to go back to… those moments were priceless. Sometimes he simply felt the luckiest man on earth.


End file.
